Kusina added to Charlevoix City Council members facing recall

December 09, 2012|Steve Zucker, Charlevoix Courier Editor

This photo illustration shows the original design of the community fireplace in its proposed location in East Park. The drawing is sized to scale with the photo, based on the size of the foundation that has already been constructed for the fireplace

CHARLEVOIX — It is now a clean sweep.

All three Charlevoix City Council members who are currently eligible under state law to face a recall election have had recall proceedings initiated against them.

The remaining members of the council, Lyle Gennett, Shane Cole, and Greg Stevens, along with the mayor Norman "Boogie" Carlson Jr. can not face recall right now because all four of them were re-elected to their respective posts in November's General Election. State law prohibits filing a recall petition against an elected official in the first or last six months of his or her term.

The recall efforts stem from a controversial proposal to build a community fireplace in East Park. More specifically, all three proposed recall petitions cite the special Aug. 9 city council meeting at which the council approved the fireplace project as the reason for seeking the recall. In their proposed petition language, Porter, 2nd Ward resident Gabe Campbell and 3rd Ward resident Julee Roth, all claim that the council (more specifically, Kusina, Vollmer and Picha) violated the Michigan Open Meetings Act when they met to discuss and ultimately approve the fireplace project. In the proposed petition against Picha, Roth cites an additional reason which reads, "(Picha) has failed to ensure compliance with the Charlevoix Ordinance of 2007 requiring the timely collection of debris and other trash since June 2012."

The special city council meeting in question, which took place at 6 p.m. on Aug. 9, was called at the end of a regular meeting on Aug. 6.

City clerk Carol Ochs said a deputy clerk posted the notice of the special meeting on the door at the main entrance to city hall at 4:20 p.m. on Aug. 7 -- more than 48 hours before the special meeting took place.

The Open Meeting Act's requirement for posting notices of special reads, "... for a rescheduled regular or a special meeting of a public body, a public notice stating the date, time, and place of the meeting shall be posted at least 18 hours before the meeting."

Ochs provided the Courier with a copy of the posting, the main body of which reads, "City of Charlevoix Mayor Norman L. Carlson, Jr. has called a Special Joint Meeting of the Charlevoix City Council and the Charlevoix Downtown Development Authority for Thursday, August 9, 2012 at 6:00 p.m. The meeting will start at East Park Plaza B for a work session and then move to Council Chambers, City Hall, 210 State Street for the purpose of deliberation and decisions. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the possible addition and location of shade trees and a fireplace to East Park."

Ultimately, the downtown development authority board did not have enough members present at the meeting to constitute a quorum, and therefore they did convene an official meeting of that body, Ochs, who was present at the meeting, said.

Ochs said, and the meeting minutes reflect that, the council discussed both the fireplace and the shade tree proposals in the park and then the meeting was adjourned to city hall where it re-convened at about 6:30 p.m. where further discussion took place on the two matters and votes were taken on both.

Asked by the Courier last week to elaborate more specifically on how he believes the council members violated the Open Meetings Act, Campbell said he believes the meeting was in violation because it was advertised (posted) as a joint meeting of the council and the downtown development authority board, yet only the council ultimately officially conducted a meeting.

Responding to the same question in an email, Roth responded, "In simple terms, the City Council did not do what they were supposed to do. Jill is and was elected Mayor Pro Tem and did not do her job correctly. There's still a fireplace up and ready to go. There's a laundry list of problems with that fireplace."

Asked Wednesday how he believes the council violated the act, Porter said he believes, based on discussions he has had with legal counsel, that the meeting notice should have been advertised in a newspaper in advance of the meeting.

Last week Picha denied that the meeting violated the Open Meetings Act and Vollmer did not respond to a message left at his home seeking comment.

Contacted by the Courier on Wednesday, Kusina also denied that the Aug. 9 meeting violated the Open Meetings Act.

"We didn't do anything wrong. I feel it's an unjust charge," Kusina said. We didn't violate the Open Meetings Act. There was nothing under the table."

Kusina added: "I'm deeply saddened it's come to this. I think it's dividing this community. After the last election, I thought it was behind us, but obviously, they are just going to push on. This is a free country, and that's their right."

The proposal to build a gas-fired community fireplace in East Park was first brought to the council at a meeting in early July when city resident John Winn proffered the idea on behalf of an anonymous donor who wished to pay for the bulk of its construction. Winn said he suggested the fireplace idea to the donor after seeing a similar one in downtown Holland.

A chorus of community member objections to the project began to rise up when crews began construction site preparations in mid-August. Some of the major objections have included the cost of natural gas, that the fireplace and its chimney will block the view of Round Lake and East Park, the processes the council followed in approving the project, and others.

In response to the complaints, in mid-September the council voted to put the project on hold to allow time to see if a compromise can be worked out among the council those who oppose the project and the donor.

The next step in the recall process will be a meeting of the Charlevoix County Election Commission set for 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 10, in the Charlevoix County Board of Commissioners' meeting room at the county building. At that time the election commission which, by law, is comprised of probate judge Frederick Mulhauser, Charlevoix County Clerk Cheryl Browe and Charlevoix County Treasurer Marilyn Cousineau, will consider the proposed language of all three recall petitions. At that meeting, the election commission will be charged with determining, "whether each reason for the recall stated in the petition is of sufficient clarity to enable the officer whose recall is sought and the electors to identify the course of conduct that is the basis for the recall."